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Editing with Nik Software

Wed, Oct 24th, 2012 | Equipment, Technique, Photography 7 Comments

I’m giving a talk in Osaka this Friday about whales, which means I have to edit and process a number of photos to flesh out the presentation outline I’ve come up with for the occasion.

Humpback whales bubble net feeding in Alaska,
the photo I just finished editing with Nik Software

Just so you know…processing photos is one of my least favourite things in the world to do. I’m happy to devote endless hours to thinking up new ways to create beautiful images, but when it comes to sitting in front of a computer and working with Photoshop…well, that’s about as appealing to me as going to have wisdom teeth removed…sans anaesthetics.

One of the primary contributors to my lack of love for editing is the complexity of Photoshop. Suffice it to say that I often can’t make heads or tails of what I’m doing. I get so frustrated that I give up and go do something more enjoyable, like wash dishes or take out the garbage.

Anyway, in the process of putting together my upcoming presentation, I started playing with some plug-ins from Nik Software (Disclosure: I received the set of plug-ins from Nik).

Given my limited experience with this tool set at this stage, I’m no expert by any means, but I find myself liking the plug-ins so much that I thought it worth sharing an example of the workflow I used to process the photo above of humpback whales bubble-net feeding in Alaska.

To start…I use Aperture to keep track of my files, but I generally don’t use it for RAW conversion, except to churn out quick-and-dirty files for blog posts.

Most of the time, I use the RAW converter in Photoshop, in this case Photoshop CS5 (I haven’t upgraded to CS6 yet). I work with 16-bit PSD files in Adobe RGB colour space, and I do my best to ensure that my files stay within parameters suitable for CMYK print processes.

Keeping in mind that you can’t make a sucky photograph into a good one, this screenshot shows the main settings I used for the conversion of my RAW file shot on a Canon 1D MkIV, basically very minor adjustments…fine-tuning the colour temperature and a slight tweak to the exposure:

RAW conversion of humpback whale photograph

RAW conversion of my humpback whale photograph

From this point forward, I used a series of filters in the Nik Complete Collection to get to my finished image:

1. Define 2.0 for Noise Reduction
I shot this photo at a reasonable ISO rating of 320, so there wasn’t too much noise. Still, I’ve found it useful to start my editing process by running every image through Define 2.0, which is the Nik plug-in for noise reduction.

The plug-in gives you the ability to tweak settings manually, but so far, I’ve found that letting the plug-in do its thing…measure noise and automatically decide how much to reduce it by…works exceptionally well. Hurray for that!

To give you an idea of what the plug-in decided for this photo, here is part of the image at 100% before I ran Define 2.0:

100% view before running Nik Software Define 2.0

And there is the same part of the image after running Define 2.0:

100% view after running Nik Software Define 2.0

To my eye, the plug-in did a great job cleaning up noise. The best part is…I didn’t have to think about it! I let the plug-in do all the work.

As you can see, the de-noising process also masks some detail. In the Before screenshot, you can make out some detail in the trees in the background. In the After screenshot, not so much.

In some situations, loss of detail might pose an issue, but here, it was perfect, as my objective is to draw your eye to the whales, not the background.

There was a bit of detail loss in the whales as well, but I had a plan for that (step 6 + normal sharpening at the end of the editing process).

2. Color Efex Pro 4: Graduated ND Filter
After cleaning up the noise, I decided that I wanted to even out the exposure levels a bit between the sky and the ocean, so I turned to the Gradated Neutral Density filter in Color Efex Pro.

This is where I learned about Control Points, which is Nik Software’s method for applying the effects you want in a selective manner.

In this instance I wanted the sky/ sea exposure levels to be more even, but I didn’t want the whales to be affected. So I used the Graduated ND filter to make the sky darker, with the reduction in exposure values gradually decreasing as I moved down the image. I then used the Control Points to tell Color Efex Pro to exclude the whales from the adjustment:

Using the mask view to see what areas the control points are affecting

The white/ light areas are where the filter is being applied. The dark areas are where the filter is not being applied.

(I’m not prepared to go into a full explanation here of how the Control Points work, partly because I’m still figuring it out myself. If you want to learn more about the Control Points, head over to the Nik Software site and look at their video tutorials. That’s what I did.)

The values I set to determine to top-to-bottom differential in exposure were small…-10 at the top and 0 at the bottom, as I generally only want to make minor, barely noticeable tweaks.

Here is the result…barely noticeable, right?

Nik Color Efex Pro 4, Graduated ND Filter

3. Color Efex Pro 4: Brilliance/ Warmth Filter
Once that was done, I decided to add a dash of saturation to the whales, to try to get them to stand out a bit from the nearly monotone background.

To do this, I used the Perceptual Saturation slider in the Brilliance/ Warmth Filter.

Here’s before applying the slider:

Before applying the Perceptual Saturation slider

And here’s after:

After applying the Perceptual Saturation slider

This time, I used the Control Points to concentrate the effect on the whales, not the water or mountains, and I applied only a very subtle effect (Perceptual Saturation slider on 7%, leaving Saturation and Warmth at 0).

The Perceptual Saturation slider is really cool. I’m not sure how to describe the effect, but it sort of figures out what/ where needs a saturation boost and adjust colours in a dynamic manner. It’s more intelligent/ subtle than just pumping up saturation in Photoshop.

4. Color Efex Pro 4: Glamor Glow Filter
This probably isn’t a filter you’d normally think about for a photograph of humpback whales bubble-net feeding, but I played with the glamor glow filter. My intent was to reduce the visual impact of the background, so once again, I applied Control Points to restrict the effect to the background, not the whales:

Making creative use of the glamor glow filter

The slider settings cooled the background (cooler colours tend to fade in visual importance, and cool tones accurately reflect the conditions that day) and reduced the saturation.

Once again, the effect doesn’t knock you over the head. It’s subtle.

5. Color Efex Pro 4: Remove Color Cast Filter
After I took a break, I came back, looked at my work-in-progress, and decided that I wanted to cool the overall image more.

I turned to the Remove Color Cast Filter, which allows you to adjust the overall color temperature, once again applying a barely noticeable adjustment, this time to the entire image. I forgot to take a screen shot of this step.

6. Color Efex Pro 4: Detail Extractor Filter
To recover a bit of the detail, especially in the shadows of the whales, I played with the Detail Extractor Filter. This seems to be a very powerful filter, but you have to be careful not to re-introduce noise as a byproduct.

Here is a close-up of part of the image before the Detail Extractor:

Before applying the Detail Extractor Filter

And here is the same section after a (you guessed it!) teeny-tiny subtle application of this filter:

After applying the Detail Extractor Filter. See the extra detail?

Again…I used the Control Points to apply this filter only to the whales, not the mountains or ocean.

I arrived at the settings (Detail Extractor 4%, Contrast 1%, Saturation 2%) by first zooming out to look at the overall effect, then zooming in to see how much noise I was creating as a byproduct…striking a balance between my desire to bring out detail while not messing up the file.

Notice again that I did not wang the sliders way out to something silly like 50%!

7. Silver Efex Pro 2: High Structure (Smooth)
And finally, I did something wacky.

The Silver Efex Pro plug-in is designed to convert colour images to black-and-white. That’s how most people use it.

I applied Silver Efex to add a little extra punch to the image…in colour.

First, I opened the image in Silver Efex Pro and chose the High Structure (Smooth) pre-set (after playing with a whole bunch of the pre-sets to see how they affected the image).

I scrolled down the right bar until I found the colour filters and selected the yellow one (If you don’t know how/ why colour filters affect black-and-white images, I suggest searching for the subject on Google and reading up on it. Trust me. It’s interesting.)

Using Silver Efex Pro to tweak a color image

Using Silver Efex Pro to tweak a colour image

Then I applied the filter pre-set, changed the blend mode for the resulting layer to Luminosity, and reduced the layer opacity to 33% to get the look I wanted.

(The previous sentence almost makes it sound like I know what I’m doing. What actually transpired was that I played around with blend modes until I got the effect I wanted.)

humpback whale image, with all Nik Software filters shown

The final product, with all steps shown

That’s it. The entire process was pretty intuitive.

It took me a few hours, but that mostly because I was playing with filters and trying out different combinations. I suspect I’ll get better and faster at deciding which filters to use as I grow more familiar with them.

I’ve started experimenting with applying the Nik Software plug-ins to processing underwater images too. As always however, underwater images (especially blue-water ones) pose unique challenges, so I haven’t quite worked out how to make best use of the Nik Software for marine images yet.

Learning To Use A Lytro

Mon, Mar 5th, 2012 | Equipment, Technique 11 Comments

Lytro cameras started shipping a few days ago.

Since then, major news and tech sites have published a flurry of reviews and write-ups, describing what a Lytro is (the world’s first lightfield camera for the consumer market) and offering a range of opinions about the camera, the underlying technology, and various pros/ cons.

If you’re unfamiliar with this new camera, I’d suggest you visit the Lytro website to get a quick overview. Particularly useful are the videos that describe the basics of how to use a Lytro.

Thanks to my friend Eric Cheng, who is the Director of Photography at Lytro, I’ve had a bit of a head start playing with and learning about the camera.

Given the number of sites and well-informed people who have opined on the Lytro, I’m going to steer clear of discussing anything remotely technical. Instead, I’m going to tell you about my own experience of getting to know the Lytro over the past couple of weeks, and why I think this camera is meaningful.

Lytro camera, 16GB Red Hot model

Context
First off, let me put the overall experience in context…the Lytro is different.

This may seem like a major “Duh!” statement, but just how different the experience of photographing with a Lytro is…is something that’s difficult to appreciate until you’ve spent some quality time with one.

The best way I can think of to describe what I mean is to draw a comparison between photography and verbal communication: If acquiring a new lens or camera body is like adding vocabulary; and if figuring out how to use new photo techniques is like refining nuances of grammar and syntax; then shooting with a Lytro is like learning a new language.

It’s that different.

The basics of photography obviously still apply, but the unique characteristics of this new camera make it imperative for you to re-examine how you look at and interpret a given situation, and most importantly, how you decide to communicate a message with it.

What Makes a Lytro Image Different?
With the benefit of some hands-on time with the camera (and a reasonable amount of head-scratching), I’ve worked out that what makes Lytro images unique is the ability to infuse multiple dimensions into a single scene…to convey a story by enabling the viewer to explore into a given “living image”.

It took a bit of time for me to figure this out. As is typical, I didn’t look at the Lytro site or otherwise seek advice before going out to shoot. Eric gave me a rapid-fire rundown on the basics of how to turn the camera on, turn it off, zoom, etc., but beyond that, I basically just experimented…which is pretty much how I approach anything new (yes…I never read instruction manuals).

I’m not ashamed to admit that I didn’t really get it at first. I took photos as I normally would, and ended up with shots that, well…didn’t do much for me, either aesthetically, or in terms of making use of the Lytro’s re-focus capability.

My Eureka! moment came when I decided to devote an entire day to fiddling with the Lytro. I waited for good weather, then hopped over to visit the large Buddha at the Kotoku-in temple in Kamakura, Japan, where I took this photo:

As soon as I reviewed the picture on the Lytro’s built-in LCD, I knew I had a keeper. I realised that a big part of the reason the photo worked was that I had thought of the “story” I wanted to convey first, and then took the photo.

As I walked into the temple grounds, I thought: “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could show my friends that I visited the big Buddha statue, and also illustrate that the admission tickets have an image of the Buddha printed on them?”

Of course, this would’ve been possible to some extent with a normal photograph (or series of photos), but with the Lytro image, I’m able to let the viewer explore one aspect of the story at a time…to use the “depth” engendered by the re-focus capability of the Lytro to convey multiple, inter-related messages within a single, static image, but in a dynamic manner. (Click on the image to re-focus.)

With this understanding…that dynamic multi-dimensional storytelling is at the core of a Lytro image…it quickly became easy for me to spot situations that might be suitable for a Lytro picture.

This photo, for instance, communicates the pleasant experience I had of purchasing nicely packaged osenbei (Japanese rice crackers) from a very helpful saleswoman:

Clicking on the branches in this photo highlights the accumulation of snow on branches, while clicking on the person immerses you in the experience of someone enjoying the snow:

In all of these images, the ability to dive into and explore various parts of a picture adds a new dimension that doesn’t exist with traditional still photographs.

Why Should You Care?
I’m sure there are people who won’t see value in photos like these. Some will no doubt deem Lytro images a fad, a one-hit-wonder that’ll pass without much lasting effect on photography.

It is, of course, impossible to predict the future, but for what it’s worth, here is my take:

The Lytro is a version 1.0 device. It’s simple, and it’s fun on its own; it has created a novel way to communicate with still images; but more importantly, I believe it represents an initial step toward what will be a fundamental transformation of imaging technology.

Think about it.

Though resolution is relatively low now, it’ll improve. It’s just a matter of time.

Though controls and functionality are dead-simple compared to other cameras on the market today, that’ll no doubt change soon as well, perhaps with software updates, or maybe with future changes in hardware.

Though it’s only possible to have one area in a photo in focus at any given time right now, that’ll no doubt change. Imagine having pinpoint-control over exactly what you want to be in- and out-of-focus. It’s just a matter of writing the appropriate software and having sufficient computing power to process more data.

Though the re-focus capability is applicable only to pictures now, it’s not difficult to imagine how this could apply to video as well. That’s also just a matter of time, appropriate software and sufficient computing power.

In fact, the Lytro represents a fundamental shift from hardware being the major determinant of the type of imaging that is possible…to software.

Mull that over for a while.

In every other instance I can think of when software has replaced hardware as the determining factor for any endeavour, the pace of advances has increased exponentially, opening up all sorts of new opportunities not just for technology, but also creativity.

That is why I care, and why I believe you should as well.

Disclosure: The Lytro camera I used for these photos is on loan from the company.

10 Tips to Help You Win Photo Contests

Fri, Dec 16th, 2011 | Equipment, Technique, Photography 17 Comments

The winners of the 2011 Ocean Art Photo Contest were just announced a few days ago.

If you get a chance, it’s worth clicking through to take a look at the selected photographs. There are some real “crackers” among them…to borrow a term that Marty Snyderman used many times during our group chat with fellow judges Martin Edge and Bonnie Pelnar, along with contest organisers Scott Gietler and Michael Zeigler.

The judging process for competitions like this is opaque, at least to people who submit photos. After you enter a contest, the next thing you hear is either “Congratulations, your image placed!”, or nothing. Zip. Crickets.

In either instance, you might scratch your head and wonder why your photo was selected or why it wasn’t, as the case may be.

This can be frustrating. Especially if you’re looking to enter more contests in the future and could do with some feedback on the things you did well, as well as hints on how you could improve your odds of success.

I’ve had the honour of helping to judge several contests in recent months (DEEP Indonesia, Underwater Festival, Ocean Art) so I thought I’d share a few pointers as a means of providing some insight into how photos are selected or weeded out…pre-game mental prep for next year’s contests, so to speak.

One caveat…the thoughts below are personal; they are things that affect my decision process. I am not in any way speaking for any of the other judges or contest organisers, so please don’t give them grief if you take issue with anything I’ve written.

Whether you find yourself nodding and thinking: “Go figure. Tony actually has some good points” or shaking your head in disgust and sighing: “What an numbskull,” I hope the issues I raise below will be thought-provoking and perhaps even help with your entries in upcoming contests.

For what it’s worth, following are some of the key points that go through my mind when looking through photos.

1. Weed Out the Obvious
I’m referring to things like out-of-focus images, poorly lit photos, blurry shots (not intentionally so), and other basic issues with the techniques and mechanics of photography. In many contests, the organisers pre-screen entries, so a lot of these get taken out before the judges see them. But sometimes a few slip through, and in some cases, there isn’t any pre-screening.

To cut to the chase…there’s just no point entering images with issues like these. I know, that’s harsh, but in order to stand a chance in any decent competition, you need to be your own worst critic.

If you find it difficult to be cold-hearted and objective about your own images, try to find someone you trust who can tell you: “This sucks!” without hurting your feelings.

Bonus points if that person can explain why as well.

2. Weigh the Subtle
These are considerations like composition (just a tad to the right, cropped a bit tighter, etc.), overall eye-catchiness (a bit hard to define, but obvious when you see it), minor blemishes and irritants.

Subtle issues are things that could go either way, depending to a large extent on the level of competition. What I usually do is take a quick run through all the images in a given category and make an initial gut assessment of overall quality level.

I don’t pick any photos. I just make a mental note of whether the category is say super strong, so-so, weak, etc. When I go back through to do a first cut, the stronger the entries are, the harsher I am with subtle points.

Images in a photo competition are, after all, judged against peer entries.

Here’s one example of something that might sway my opinion: Say you have a mind-blowing photograph of a bunch of manta rays taken near the surface, but just visible in the background is a diver with his head out of the water…so what you see, in effect, is a headless diver. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll cut the photo in question, but if there are other strong entries in the category, it’ll definitely affect my decision.

3. Bemoan the Tragic
In every contest I’ve helped judge, there have been great photographs that were entered into the wrong category. In the most recent Ocean Art Photo Contest, there was a very nice photo entered into the Marine Life Behavior category, one that I immediately pegged as a high quality entry.

The thing is, when we got together via the magic of the internet to discuss our choices, we came to the reluctant consensus that the photo didn’t actually show any behavior per se. Had it been entered in the Portrait category, I’d wager that it would’ve been among the top choices.

Bummer…because I really liked the photo and wanted to give it recognition. (Translation: I whined, but the other judges were correct.)

I suppose this goes without saying, but when you enter a competition, it’s a good idea to read the category descriptions and ensure that you put your images up for consideration in the most appropriate one.

4. Nix Xerox Shots
There is a fine line between emulating someone’s photo style, and just plain copying it. One of the advantages of being involved with several major contest is that I’ve seen lots of images. I don’t always pick up on photos that are straight copies of other winning photos, but when I do, I immediately cut them. No questions asked.

I might be more of a stickler about this than other people are, but to me, photography is art. Art, by definition, requires originality.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with studying other people’s images and learning from them (in fact, that’s the best way to improve), but if you want your images to receive recognition in a competition, avoid using the Xerox machine.

5. Bin Trendy Shots
Trends and fads come and go. I hate fads of all types, not just ones pertaining to photography. Fads can be subjects; fads can be techniques; fads can be places. But in all cases, fads are easy to recognise, and they’re bad…especially in the context of entering contests.

With the ease of communication and information flow facilitated by the internet these days, it’s particularly easy to sucked into the latest trend. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going to the latest “in” destination, photographing the latest “cool” animal, or trying the latest “new” gadget, but just keep in mind that when everyone is visiting the same place, photographing the same animal, or using the same tool…it’s difficult for your image to stand out from the crowd, because by definition, fads foster conformity, not originality.

An example here is the use of snoots. Snoots are not new or original by a long shot. In recent months though, they’ve become an “in” thing, with lots of photos that were obviously taken with a snoot showing up on the net and in contests. Whenever I see a photo with an overexposed spot/ cone of light surrounded by black, I want to gag.

Don’t get me wrong. I have used snoots and snoot-like instruments for dog years, and I love them. But the thing about snoots is that they are tools. They are not magic sauce that makes an otherwise dull photo into a prize-winning image.

And as with the use of other tools, it’s usually best when the result is subtle. In other words, if the first reaction that someone has when looking at your photo is: “Oh, you used a snoot”, then the tool has overpowered the subject.

Photography is about subjects, not tools.

6. View Greyscale/ Monochrome Shots with Scepticism
If you greyscale an underwater image or convert it to black and white, there has to be a good reason. Too often, people do this just because the visibility is bad. That’s not a good reason; bad viz. is just part of underwater photography.

There are certainly some images that work well in greyscale or black/ white, but shooting in monochrome is a different discipline, requiring a dedicated thought process/ approach, and in many respects, can be more difficult than photography in colour. This is true whether you’re shooting underwater or on land.

Simply using software to change colour to monochrome doesn’t cut it in most cases for underwater images.

If by converting your image to monochrome, you bring out an important point or evoke a feeling/ emotion that wouldn’t work in colour…terrific! But if that point, feeling, etc. isn’t immediately obvious, don’t bother.

7. Consider Photo Quality Over Subject Matter
Photo competitions are first and foremost about photo quality.

This may sound like a “duh” statement, but there are always photos that appear to have been entered for subject matter rather than photo quality.

Photos of big animals most often fit this description, but this also applies to photos of rare animals or amazing events.

Big animals have charisma and presence, so as subjects go, they stand out. More people can relate to sharks, rays, dolphins, whales, and such than to teeny-tiny crustaceans, for instance. But there isn’t an automatic hierarchy that dictates that big animal shots are better than small animal shots.

Ditto for amazing events like the Sardine Run, sailfish in Isla Mujeres, mantas at Hanifaru, whale sharks in Cenderawasih, and so forth.

It’s easy to get carried away by the excitement of seeing amazing events, or getting a photo of a great white shark, but in my book at least, if you enter a photograph of a big animal or spectacle, the picture has to be more than good. It has to be out-of-this-world fantastic (like this winning manta image taken by Tobias Friedrich).

Bottom line…I’ll always choose a fantastic shot of a smaller animal over a mediocre photo of megafauna or mega-event.

8. Look for Originality
By this stage, I will have reduced the number of photos to a manageable number, and I’ll shift gears from looking for reasons to toss out entries to seeking reasons to choose winners.

The first thing I look for is originality. This is, in a way, the inverse of #4 above.

There is no easy way to define originality, but I know it when I see it. Look at the winning photos in any decent photo contest, and there will be a high originality quotient.

As but one example, look at this winning photo in the Nudibranch Category, taken by Salvatore Ianniello.

The radiating tube worm “ceiling” made this shot stand out like a penguin in Times Square. Maybe someone else has taken an image like this before, but I haven’t seen one like it. It was an instant “Like!” for me.

9. Look for the Wow! Factor
A related, difficult-to-describe attribute I look for is the Wow! factor. Perhaps above all else, this is the single most important ingredient in a prize-winning photo.

It’s the quality in an image that makes you stop, take a second look, and mutter “wooooow” as you stare at the picture. It’s often an intangible quality not attributable to any one factor, but is something that’s conveyed by the entirety of the photo in question.

Again, take a look at the winners of any photo contest, and you should experience a number of “oooooh” and “aaaaaah” moments.

10. Listen to the Force
Finally, it comes down to personal choice.

The best competitions receive lots of technically perfect entries that are original and have Wow!-factor appeal.

Every judge has different likes and dislikes, so given the same pool of photos, it’s highly unlikely that any two judges will come up with the same selections. In the most recent contest judging, I had a chance to group chat/ discuss with the other judges, which was useful and fun, as it allowed us to exchange views and share observations about photos that we felt deserved recognition.

Listening to the reasons why someone else liked a photo changed my perspective in a few instances. As with many aspects of life, listening was as important as talking, if not more so.

Conclusion
So that’s it. There’s certainly nothing earth-shattering in what I’ve spelled out, but I hope that writing out some of my thoughts will help shed a little light on what happens behind the scenes, not just in this most recent competition, but for all photo contests in general.

While the list above applies just to me, and there are some points that are unique to underwater photography, I suspect that most judges for most photo contests go through a similar mental process.

You may have already picked up on this, but the selection process is often as much, if not more, about elimination as it is about picking winners.

So when you’re deciding which photos to enter, it might be a good idea to make like you’re a judge, and edit/ cut/ select photos accordingly.

One last note before wrapping up…always bear in mind that if your photo wasn’t picked, it doesn’t necessarily mean your photo wasn’t good, or even great. The best contests are the ones that receive a plethora of mind-blowing entries, which often makes it impossible to give recognition to every photo that deserves it.

Equipment Note: Quad Ball Adapter

Tue, Jul 26th, 2011 | Equipment, Technique 1 Comment

I had a chance to play with a new toy while I was in PNG…quad ball adapters, a product that a company in California called Xit 404 makes.

The concept behind this neat little gadget is simple. The adapter gives you the ability to attach up to four ball joints to any place where you can secure a standard T-plate mount.

Here, I’ve attached one of the adapters to a T-plate on a housing grip, and then hooked up four ball joints to the adapter:

Close-up view of quad ball adapter with four balls

Though it’s certainly possible to use four balls at one time, in practice, I only used two on either side of my housing.

I attached strobe arms to one ball joint, and used the remaining one on either side as a means to clamp down bits and pieces (light modifiers and such) in a secure manner…in effect, using the spare ball joints as extra hands to hold onto stuff I thought I might need (i.e., allowing me to carry even more junk than normal).

The extra ball joints also came in handy when I wanted to carry both strobes and constant lighting sources at the same time, such as when I wanted to have a focus light for shooting Dinah’s gobies, or when I thought it would be useful to have the flexibility of switching between taking still images and video footage.

I’m a big fan of simple, effective solutions like this.

If you find yourself wanting to carry lots of stuff down on a dive and/ or needing to have a range of lighting options, the quad ball adapter is worth checking out.

This is a bit of an extreme scenario,
but it’s possible to attach four arms via a quad ball adapter

Disclosure: The quad ball adapters I tested were provided by Xit 404.

Lighting the Black Jack B-17

Fri, Jul 1st, 2011 | Equipment, Technique, Places, Adventures 5 Comments

One thing I forgot to describe the other day when I posted about the Black Jack B-17 wreck was the lighting tools I took down with me.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I set my camera to a high ISO in anticipation of dark conditions at a depth of 40 metres. This allowed me take photographs without using strobes.

It’s not all that apparent from the sepia-toned images I posted before, but there was a considerable amount of stuff in the water, so controlling backscatter would have been a challenge. I’m sure it would’ve been possible to take reasonably clean images with strobe light, but it would’ve taken time, which is something I didn’t have at that depth.

Instead of using strobes, I took a couple of Sola 1200 lights down, mounted on Ultralight arms in place of my strobes.

Why did I do this? To add a hint of light and colour for considerably less effort and lower risk of creating backscatter than using strobes:

Julian taking a photo of the Black Jack B-17 wreck

As you can see from the photo above, the Sola 1200 lights allowed me to light Julian a bit, as well as the nose of the plane. I got some added light from Julian, who had one of my Sola 600 lights mounted on his camera, pointing at the plane.

There’s nowhere near the amount of light and colour that strobes could generate, but in this circumstance, it was a heckuva lot quicker and simpler than fiddling with strobes. There’s a lot to be said for quick-and-easy.

Here’s another photo, where I was able to isolate one of the props and get really close, concentrating both lights on a single area to bring out more colour:

Black Jack B17 bomber wreck lit with SOLA 1200

Prop of Black Jack B17 bomber wreck at 40m, lit with Sola 1200

As an unanticipated side benefit, this lighting set-up also came in handy for shooing Craig away when he cut in front of me, pointing at his camera while babbling incoherently (normal behaviour for him):

Craig asking me for photo advice at 40 metres!

I aimed the Sola lights directly for his face, mostly with the hope of getting him out of my way, but in doing so, I managed to add a nice, selective highlight to bring out his dopey expression, something that would have been more difficult to achieve with strobes.

None of this means that you should ditch your strobes! But if you find yourself in a similar situation or want to try something a bit different, this might be worth a go.

(Disclosure: Sola 1200 and Sola 600 lights provided by Scubacam and Light and Motion.)

Black Jack B-17 Bomber

Tue, Jun 28th, 2011 | Equipment, Technique, Places, Adventures No Comments

I’m not big on wrecks. I know a lot of people are, including many of my friends, but I’m already obsessed with marine life, and I figure one obsession is more than enough.

On the final of the three legs of this adventure however, I had to give in (sigh), and we visited a couple of wrecks, including this well-known site at Cape Vogel, where a B-17 bomber known as Black Jack sits at 40 metres.

Black Jack B-17 bomber wreck at 40 metres in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea

Black Jack B-17 bomber wreck at 40 metres.
Bob Halstead above, Craig Dewit near the prop, Julian Cohen at the nose

Given the depth, we didn’t have much time. The visibility didn’t look all that great, so I decided to skip the strobes and just go with high ISO. Before jumping in, I took a guess and set the ISO at 2500, with f8 aperture and 1/100 shutter…which happened to work out perfectly.

The main advantage of doing this is that I didn’t have to worry about backscatter or lighting such an inherently dark scene. Also, with limited time at depth and the mind-numbing effects of narcosis, I didn’t need to worry about strobe settings, only camera settings. Had I guessed incorrectly about the exposure, it would have just required a tiny bit of fiddling to figure out what would work.

The primary disadvantage is added grain/ noise. But DSLR sensors are good enough these days that the results are perfectly acceptable to me under certain circumstances…like this one.

Finally, while the original files look decent in colour, I decided to convert these two to sepia tone to imbue the images with a vintage mood I felt appropriate for the subject.

Blackjack B-17 bomber wreck at Cape Vogel

Julian taking a photo of the Black Jack B-17 wreck

Dinah’s Goby

Sun, Jun 26th, 2011 | Equipment, Technique, Marine Life, Places, Adventures 6 Comments

We’ve just arrived back in Alotau, after another terrific journey of exploration aboard Golden Dawn, which took us first to the Cape Vogel area, over to Goodenough Island, around Fergusson Island, through the strait between Fergusson and Normanby, and finally to the fantastic reefs around Nuakata Island.

Bob, Wen-Tsae and Eric have just left for the airport. The rest of us will be catching flights in the next day or two.

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of this trip for me was having the opportunity to see and photograph Lubricogobius dinah, an irresistibly cute yellow-and-white goby:

Pair of Dinah’s gobies (Lubricogobius dinah) with their beer-bottle home,
at Observation Point in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea

I can’t remember the exact circumstances under which I first came across a reference to these fish, but I’m pretty sure it was over a decade ago. What I do recall however, is my gut reaction at the time, which was something like: “I like!”, with a big, silly grin plastered across my face.

Anyway, it’s a good thing I have an obsessive personality, because it’s taken me this long to find and photograph a pair.

This fish is named after Bob’s wife Dinah, who is as nice a person as these fish are cute. When we reached a dive site known as Observation Point on Normanby Island, Bob took me down to look for several beer bottles he placed here in the past, where these gobies often take up residence.

Given how long I’ve waited to see these fish, I was anxious…anxious that we might not find any gobies, and if we did, that I might screw up the photos, as these fish are small, skittish, and live down at 30 metres or more. They have a tendency duck inside their homes at the slightest disturbance. When you’re down deep, there’s not a lot of time to twiddle thumbs while you wait.

The first bottle we checked was a blank, but the second was occupied. Bob left me at 30 metres, where I spent 40 minutes approaching fish.

If you’re a diver, you’re probably thinking, “40 minutes at 30 metres? That’s serious deco time.”

It was.

Actually, I was on a rebreather, which was a big help…first because it helped to minimise sounds associated with exhalation, and second, because it allowed me to maintain a high PPO2 and stay down longer with minimal nitrogen saturation. (Almost sounds like I know what I’m talking about, doesn’t it?). Anyway, the upshot is that without the rebreather, I would’ve been significantly more time-restricted and nitrogen-loaded, and the sound of bubbles may have kept the fish from growing comfortable with my presence.

Even with the relative silence of a rebreather, the gobies ducked into the bottle as soon as I approached, but after I waited 10 to 15 minutes, they came out again. Little-by-little I closed the distance, until I was near enough to nail a few images like this:

Super-macro shot of Dinah’s goby (Lubricogobius dinah)

[Behavioural note: When the gobies eventually grew accustomed to my presence, one (always the same individual) stayed in the bottle all the time. The other fish swam outside, often perching atop the bottle entrance, but more often, hovering five to 10 centimetres above the bottle, swimming in a slightly twitchy fashion, reminiscent of how dart gobies move. I’m not sure if anyone else has ever seen this behaviour before, as the goby only started swimming above the bottle when it seemed completely at ease with me.]

When preparing for the dive, I knew that this would be a one-time opportunity. If we found the fish, I’d have one chance, and one chance only, as we were planning to move on to another site after the dive.

With a bit of deliberation, I chose to use a super-macro set-up, because I wasn’t sure how close the gobies would allow me to approach. I figured that with a 3x teleconverter + 100mm macro lens + Canon 5D Mark II camera, I would be able to maximise image magnification, even at a considerable distance. Of course, with the loss of light from the teleconverter and the inherently dark conditions at 30m in muck, it was nearly impossible to see.

I took a Sola 600 light down with me and used the red focusing light. Fortunately, that provided sufficient illumination for me to focus manually, and the red light didn’t seem to bother the fish.

So…after 40 minutes of lying at 30 metres on the bottom of the ocean, crawling centimetre by centimetre, using a KISS rebreather, wielding a super-macro lens set-up and aiming with a Sola 600 light, I slam-dunked a series of shots I’ve been pursuing for more than 10 years…thanks, of course, to Bob’s sage advice and impeccable fish-spotting talent.

(Disclosure: Sola 600 provided by Scubacam and Light and Motion)

Friendly Fish Faces

Tue, Jun 14th, 2011 | Equipment, Technique, Marine Life, Places, Adventures 2 Comments

For our final day of this second of three cruises aboard MV Golden Dawn in Papua New Guinea, we dived at a mucky area called Waga Waga, which is across the bay from Alotau.

From previous visits, I recalled that there was an interesting variety of gobies that made their home near the wreck, so I decided to go with a super macro set up.

Specifically, I used my Canon 100mm lens stacked with a Kenko 3x teleconverter; a Sola 600 focus light to help me find/ see my subjects; and two Inon S-2000 strobes to keep my rig as light as possible.

Close-up of a Vanderhorstia sp. goby at Waga Waga in Milne Bay

Using a focus light helps a lot, as you’ll need to achieve critical focus on the eye, which is sort of like being Luke shooting a missile down that ridiculously small hole in the Death Star. It takes a bit of luck, a lot of concentration, and plenty of muttering under your breath.

For this purpose, the Sola 600 is a perfect size to sit on top of my camera. I really like using the red light function, which imparts some colour contrast for a smidgeon of extra help discerning lines and edges. (Disclosure: Sola 600 provided by Scubacam and Light and Motion). I chose Inon S-2000 lights because they’re compact and light, while providing plenty of light for macro photography.

If you try taking photographs like this with a DSLR, you’ll need to use manual focus, as teleconverters reduce incoming light levels in a big way. In this instance, murky water and overcast skies made focusing even more of a challenge.

I think this is a Cryptocentrus cinctus shrimp goby

Gobies are generally skittish fish. You would probably be on-edge be as well if you were subject to the constant possibility of being made into a mid-morning snack by a larger animal.

But…it’s actually not too difficult to approach gobies if you keep a few things in mind.

First, descending from above rarely works. You should get low to the ground, preferably lying on the sand or rubble. Obviously, you should make sure you don’t crush anything in doing so, but fortunately, shrimp gobies often make their homes in places where nothing else lives.

Second, control your breathing so that you don’t spew bubbles all at once. If you exhale in a sudden manner, you create a series of explosive sound waves that smack the fish in a manner similar to the shocking sensation you’d experience if a squadron of supersonic jets buzzed you at close quarters while doing Mach 5.

Rayed shrimp goby (Tomiyamichthys sp.) in almost the exact
same place I found one five and a half years ago

Get your camera and strobe settings right before you approach. To do this, try aiming at a rock or some other inanimate object of similar size and colour to get everything just right while you’re still some distance from the goby in question.

When you approach, do so slowly, centimetre by centimetre. As you crawl toward the fish, you can be sure that the goby is watching you, so be considerate. Stop and return the favour from time to time. Sit and watch for a while without moving, so the fish has time to adjust to your presence.

In many cases, gobies will get nervous and dart back into their burrows in spite of your best efforts to mimic an innocuous rock, but every once in a while, you’ll get a cooperative fish, and you’ll soon find yourself within reasonable shooting distance.

Amblyeleotris sp. shrimp goby giving me attitude

Finally, it pays to study fish body-language and behaviour. Shrimp gobies, for instance, twitch their tails when they’re nervous. They do this to warn their blind-shrimp companions of possible danger. So if you sense twitchiness, freeze and make like a boring coral head until the fish gives the shrimp the all-clear sign.

Note: My goby IDs are tentative. If you spot a mistake, please let me know.

Multimedia Project Workflow

Fri, Dec 17th, 2010 | Equipment, Technique 5 Comments

Having spent the past few days completely buried in editing, I’m still a bit wired, with my brain stuck in editing mode.

I decided to direct my OCD energy into something productive, so I put together the diagram below, which sets out the workflow I followed for my Ambon Beneath The Waves video.

Video of marine life in Ambon

If you’re a photographer thinking about delving into multimedia projects, or you happen to be interested in reading about what’s involved in putting together something like the Ambon video, read on.

If not, my rambling will undoubtedly bore you, so it’s probably best to skip this post.

If you happen to be a video expert, you might find this amusing, and I’d certainly appreciate tips on what I can do better.

To preface the balance of this discussion, let me underscore that this workflow isn’t set in stone. It’s part of an evolving methodology that I’ve been refining and re-jigging over the past few years, so what I describe below is best characterised as a snapshot in time, rather than a hard-and-fast recipe.

It’s the current status of what I’ve learned through trial-and-(lots of)error, and I have no doubt that the methodology I follow will change again with the next project I undertake.

Also, please note that I use Macs. I always have, and probably always will. The software I discuss below is mainly for Macs. The basic thought process I outline below should, however, apply irrespective of the hardware platform you prefer, and there are equivalent programs available for non-Mac computers.

For ease of explanation, I’ve divided my workflow into four major sections: Acquire Media, Organise Media, Edit Media, Output Media (logical, no?).

Acquire Media
Arguably, this is the most important step. Without high-quality raw material, there’s not much point going further.

For the Ambon project, I used a combination of photographs (taken with Canon 40D, 7D, 5D and 5D Mark II cameras), underwater video clips (taken entirely with a Canon 7D), and an audio recording (captured with a Zoom H4n).

Of course, there was much more hardware than cameras involved, like three SOLA 600 lights (courtesy of Light & Motion and Scubacam) and a FIX LED1000DX light to illuminate the video clips, lots of strobe, tonnes of batteries, a few Gorillapods, and a bunch of homemade bits and pieces held together by miscellaneous nuts, bolts, tape and crossed fingers.

Acquiring media = Carrying lots of stuff

As you can see from the chart at the end of this post, I use high-quality formats for capturing data (RAW for photos, 1080p for video, 24-bit/ 48kHz wav for audio). The thinking behind this is simple: It’s easy to downsample; it’s not a good idea to upsample.

If this is obvious to you, good. If you don’t understand why this is necessary, you might want to read up on image, video and audio formats.

I use a software program called Photo Mechanic to ingest all my image and video files, because it’s lightning-fast, which makes it perfect for doing a first-cut edit to weed out obvious rejects.

With Photo Mechanic, I rename all my incoming files in sequential order, using the following naming convention:

yearmonth_location_description_number

So the first underwater photograph from my recent trip to Ambon would be:

201011_Ambon_Underwater_0001

…with all of my underwater images and video files in a single folder on my hard drive.

I don’t ingest audio files with Photo Mechanic. I copy directly into a dedicated audio file folder and label the files as necessary. I have the Zoom H4n set up so it names audio files by date and sequentially, and just add descriptive terms after the file name.

For example:

101127-003.wav

…means the third file I recorded the on 27 November 2010. The H4n assigns this name automatically.

Then I augment the file name to:

101127-003_panggayo.wav

…so it’s easy for me to see that this is Michael’s rendition of Panggayo.

At this stage, I make two backups of everything. Basically, if I don’t have three copies of every file, they don’t exist. Digital files are really convenient, but they’re also easy to lose. All it takes is a malevolent cup of coffee…

Also, I’ve come to realise that it’s not necessary for me to separate RAW photo files and video files. I read them all into the same folder, and name them sequentially as outlined above.

At first blush, you might think this would be confusing. It would, were it not for Aperture, which is the key to the next major step in my workflow.

Organise Media
Aperture is a really powerful software package. As I pointed out before in a review of my initial experience with Aperture 3.0, there are some things that I find vexing about the program, but on the balance, I find it incredibly useful. (Many of the issues I had before have been addressed in subsequent software updates.)

Put simply, Aperture is the backbone of my workflow.

First, I create a new, dedicated Library for each project/ trip. This is essential, as I find Aperture’s performance drops if you ask it to manage too many files.

It’s good risk-management as well, since a Library crash or database corruption would affect only one specific endeavour, as opposed to all my files.

I import all my photo, video and audio files into the dedicated Library as Referenced Files in Projects (usually one Project for underwater files and another for land files), meaning the files stay where I put them on my hard drive using Photo Mechanic. I do not import the actual files into the Aperture Library. (I know the jargon is a bunch of gibberish if you’re not familiar with Aperture, but I can’t really go into a detailed Aperture tutorial here.)

Next…and here’s the key…I use Aperture’s Smart Albums to sort through my jumble of files. (Smart Albums are basically a way to sort through data automatically using parameters that you specify. Basic database stuff.)

I assign star ratings and/ or colour codes (easily accessible with keyboard shortcuts) to all my files, and then create Smart Albums to pull out relevant files into easily viewable screens.

I end up with quick-and-easy access to the files I like the most (while also keeping the other files handy in case I need them).

Since my audio files are in a separate folder structure on my hard drives, I don’t need to separate them from the photo and video files. I import them as Referenced Files into a separate Project structure in the same Aperture Library, and again use a Smart Album to select the audio files I like.

I keyword and caption all the files I can, so I’m able to search for specific files later.

At this point in my workflow, all my favourite files will have been distilled into a series of Smart Albums, which means I can view/ listen to all my selected files whenever I want.

Projects and Smart Albums in Aperture

It’s also very easy for me to remove files from Smart Albums (without actually deleting any files), or to assign new files to Smart Albums. This is perhaps the single most useful feature of Aperture for me…imposing order on chaos.

I can’t overstate how powerful this sorting capability is. If you keep everything in traditional folders on a hard drive and look through them manually, it would take you much, much(!) longer to find and keep track of the files you want.

As a bonus, I use Aperture to do 90% of my photo editing, meaning that I don’t have to resort to Photoshop too often (a good thing, given what a Photoshop dunce I am). And…here’s another kicker…I use Aperture to Trim video and audio clips.

Aperture plays the H.264 video clips from my DSLRs with ease, so I can view, select and Trim my video clips to just the parts I want. Aperture can do the same with audio files.

This capability is vital as preparation for the next step.

Edit Media
With all my media organised and sorted into Smart Albums, photos 90% edited in Aperture, and video and audio clips Trimmed to relevant sections…I’m ready to proceed to the core of the editing process.

By now, I have a storyline in mind, so I have a decent idea of what media I’ll need at specific stages of the editing process.

As a general rule, I start with audio…whether it’s background music, interviews, sound effects or ambient sound. It might seem counter-intuitive, but I’ve found that audio is the most important part of a visual presentation.

If I know how the audio for a project will go, it’s relatively easy to adjust the visual elements. If I try setting the visuals first and then adjusting audio…I usually end up with a big mess.

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s what works for me.

So…if Photo Mechanic is the core of my media acquisition, and Aperture the core of my media organisation process, Final Cut Pro is the core of my editing process. (FCP is part of Final Cut Studio.)

FCP is a challenging piece of software to get your mind around. The first time I tried FCP, it took me a couple of days of futzing around until I got the hang of the program, but I had sort of built up to FCP by learning less involved software packages like Fotomagico and Aperture (which I used to edit my Lembeh video earlier this year) first, then using Final Cut Express…so I sort of had a head start. Going into FCP cold would’ve been a lot tougher.

For the Ambon video, I decided to use FCP (over Fotomagico, Aperture or FCP Express) for two main reasons.

First, Michael’s rendition of Panggayo has an upbeat rhythm, and I wanted to use the song’s beat and pace to carry the visuals. In order to do this, I needed to be able to time the ins and outs for all the graphics. By using Markers in FCP, it’s relatively easy to predetermine and visualise transition points.

Most likely, there are ways to achieve the same thing in the other software options I have access to, but I’m very comfortable with the Markers in FCP.

Second, I knew that I wanted to create titles with a bit of animation, and also that I would need to edit the audio recording to remove background noise, cut out ambient disturbances and use an equaliser to bring out the depth of Michael’s voice.

FCP, Motion and Soundtrack Pro work well together, meaning I can send/ receive files from one program to another, and whatever edits I make in one program are reflected in the others. Very slick once you figure it out.

Anyway…one of the keys to using FCP is knowing from the beginning the format of your source files. So, for instance, I set my FCP timeline for the Ambon project to take 1080p video at 30fps (29.97) in ProRes (LT) format with 48kHz audio.

Before starting my FCP edit, I needed to ensure that my selected media suited the timeline specs.

Photos were easy. I exported edited Versions from Aperture as 72dpi jpgs at original size. For some images, I needed to bit of clean-up, so I used Photoshop for finishing touches (like backscatter removal).

Audio was simple in this instance as well. I used the original recording, which was at 48kHz.

Prepping video footage required more work. Canon DSLRs capture video footage in H.264 format as Quicktime files. The compression is quite high, so it’s not a great format for using in editing software like FCP.

To get around this, I had to transcode (change format) from the H.264 files to ProRes (LT), which is edit-friendly and of sufficient quality for what I want to achieve.

There are a number of ways to do this. Canon released a plugin for FCP for this purpose. It works, but I’ve found that I don’t need or particularly like using it.

Remember I said that I use Aperture to Trim video clips to the specific sections I want? So, for instance, let’s say I have a 90-second clip, but only really want to consider a 10-second portion for the project.

In such a scenario, I would use Aperture to Trim to that specific 10 seconds (a very easy process in Aperture), and then export that Trimmed Version (meaning the exported file would be only the selected 10 seconds, not the full 90 seconds).

I would then use a free software program called MPEG Streamclip to transcode to ProRes (LT) format, which works really well in FCP.

For this specific project, I had one more problem to solve. For a previous project, I had set my Canon 7D to capture video at 24fps (23.98) instead of 30fps (29.97)…and I forgot to change the settings until part way through my stay in Ambon. Bummer, but not insurmountable.

Using Cinema Tools (part of Final Cut Studio) I conformed the 24fps (23.98) video footage to 30fps (29.97). The speed of the video changed a little bit, and the audio no longer synced, but it didn’t matter too much, as the clips were short, and I didn’t need the audio (just recordings of me breathing underwater).

So…with all my media in the proper formats, I imported all the files into FCP, arranged them into folders (called Bins in FCP) and set everything out on my timeline.

Folders, or “Bins” in Final Cut Pro

For finishing touches, I used Motion to create the titles/ text animation, and Soundtrack Pro to polish up Michael’s rendition of Panggayo.

Both software packages are incredibly powerful, and I’ve only scratched the surface of what they can do, but I’ve mastered them enough to get what I need done, and will continue to learn a new trick or two with each new project.

Output Media
Finally, when everything was just right, I Exported from FCP at full resolution (File, Export, Quicktime Movie) to create a master file with no compression.

I used a nifty device called the Elgato Turbo.264 HD (which Eric Cheng introduced me to earlier this year) to convert to a preset format suitable for uploading to Vimeo, and used a software package (which is unfortunately no longer available) called Visual Hub to create a file that conforms to iTunes specs.

That’s it! See how simple that was?

At some point, I’ll probably delve into Compressor. I just haven’t found the time or motivation to tackle yet another software package.

Summary
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m still learning, and I’m pretty certain there are better ways of doing the things I’ve described above.

One frustration I did experience with this workflow was maintaining the quality of still images in the final output. Some photos looked bad no matter what I did, and I had to replace them with other images. It seems like FCP exaggerates noise in photos, especially for images with low depth of field. FCP also seems to brighten all photos upon export, so what I see during editing isn’t quite what I get after export.

Aperture seemed to do a relatively better job with photos in my Lembeh Night Safari video, which I edited and output entirely in Aperture. One possible explanation is the fact that I imported jpg files (albeit high quality jpgs) into FCP for this project, while Aperture exported the final slideshow/ video using RAW files as the source files.

Whatever the case, it’s something I’ll have to figure out in the future. Perhaps there’s some way to get the best of both worlds.

There’s obviously a lot more to each step along the way than I can set out here, but I hope this overview and the chart below are helpful. If you have any tricks, pointers or solutions…please share!

Workflow I used to edit my Ambon: Beneath The Waves video

Equipment Note: SOLA 600 Lights

Mon, Nov 22nd, 2010 | Equipment, Technique 12 Comments

This has been the trip to try new stuff.

In addition to the Totomega insect eye lens, I’ve been using three SOLA 600 lights (made by Light & Motion) for the first time.

I normally don’t use focus lights on my camera, primarily because most lights made for underwater use are some combination of large, heavy and awkward. In addition, many have bulky, brick-like chargers, which can be a pain to pack/ carry.

To date, I’ve relied on natural light during the day and help from a dive guide at night. On occasion I’ve hand-carried a standard dive torch, shining the light with one hand while working my camera with the other. Not the most ideal set-up, but I’ve been making do for many years.

All that’s changed now with the SOLA lights. Here’s why:

First, the lights are small. Really small. Like “fits-in-your-palm, Japanese-miniaturised” small, which means they’re easy to transport, no trivial consideration in this age of draconian baggage restrictions. As a bonus, the chargers for the SOLA are also tiny.

Light & Motion’s SOLA 600 light

The lights are self-contained, so there’s minimal flooding risk, and no worrying about which batteries to buy/ replace before/ during your trip. Just plug the charger into the back of the light and let the power grid do its thing.

Most importantly, the lights are oh-so-simple to use: Push the toggle on the top of the light forward to cycle through medium, high, and low power; push forward (or backward) and hold for two seconds to turn the light off; twist the toggle sideways to lock the power button; And the best part…pull the toggle backward for red light.

The built-in red light means you don’t have to wrap red plastic around your light for night dives, and you can easily switch back-and-forth between white and red illumination. How’s that for convenience?

In case you couldn’t tell, I love these lights.

After diving with them for a couple of weeks, I’ve found three uses:

1. As a torch. Strap a lanyard onto the SOLA 600, and it’s a lightweight, versatile torch.

2. As a focus light. As I mentioned above, I’ve never used focus lights on my cameras, because underwater lights tend to be bulky and/ or fiddly. SOLA lights are small, light, decidedly non-fiddly.

Also, the red light function is invaluable for night dives. Some of the critters I’ve come across in Ambon still seem to be able to see the red light, but this built-in stealth mode works in most instances, allowing you to sneak up on unwary photographic quarry.

SOLA 600 light as a focus light

3. As video lights. Two to three SOLA 600s have been enough to light video footage (which I’ll post after I get back) I shot during the Ambon Night Safari with my DSLR cameras. I was able to use a decent ISO (160 to 640 range on my Canon cameras), with exact settings depending upon lighting I wanted, subject size, colour and distance. (Note: Light & Motion has just released a new SOLA 1200 light, which provides even more light for video, in the same compact package.)

It was probably no small coincidence that there were lots of SOLA lights on the Ambon Night Safari trip, since all the participants were dedicated, well-informed divers. We also had a couple of prototype SOLA 1200 units that Eric Cheng brought along.

In summary: For travelling photographers, who need to cut down on baggage, standardise equipment, and have maximum redundancy…SOLA lights are a no brainer. In fact, if you have a dive-addicted person in your life, SOLA lights would make a perfect stocking stuffer for the coming holiday season (how’s that for a subtle hint?).

No product is perfect, of course, so if you get the lights, I’d recommend going easy on the toggle switch that turns the lights on-and-off. I’ve had no issues, but one person who was here snapped the toggle off by accident. The light still worked fine, but without the plastic toggle, it can be a bit more cumerbersome to operate.

Also, a few people experienced a red tint to their photos when they used the red light. This can happen if you allow a lot of light into your photo, i.e., open up aperture, slow down shutter and/ or pump up ISO. I haven’t had this issue, but it’s something to take into consideration when you use the red light function.

Collection of SOLA 600 and SOLA 1200 lights

To wrap up, I’d like to thank Light & Motion and Scubacam for providing me with the use of the SOLA 600 lights. The lights were critical to getting many shots, particularly several of the photos I took with the Totomega lens at night. Sneaking up with the red light made all the difference.

Rest assured that I wouldn’t talk-up a product I don’t truly love. I’ve lent the lights to several divers who arrived in Ambon after the Night Safari participants left. Based on their reactions, I think it’s pretty safe to say there will be several people purchasing SOLA lights when they get home.

Bottom line…The SOLA 600 lights are a home run.

Equipment Note: Totomega Insect-Eye Lens

Fri, Nov 19th, 2010 | Equipment, Technique 8 Comments

If you’re an underwater photographer, you may have noticed that the photos I recently posted of Barney the moray eel and the red frogfish have a somewhat unusual perspective.

I took the photos with a new insect-eye lens.

By way of background…the purpose of an insect-eye lens is to allow you to take wide-angle photographs from the vantage point of a very small animal, such as an insect. Some people call it a bug-eye lens, or a WAM lens (short for wide-angle macro).

Whatever your choice of nomenclature, the concept isn’t new. People have been using lenses like this for many years, especially for land photography.

The use of insect-eye lenses in underwater photography has been less prevalent however, probably because major lens manufacturers don’t make such lenses, which means they’re not readily available.

In addition, designing and making an insect eye lens with good optics is complicated and costs a lot of money, which is always a bit of a bummer.

And finally, assuming you actually make a decent insect-eye lens, you then have to waterproof it! What a hassle.

In recent months, several of my friends have been using the insect-eye lens manufactured by Inon and have been producing some really interesting images and video.

This of course made me really anxious to test the new lens pictured below:

The Totomega insect eye lens with my Canon 7D camera
in a Zillion housing + two SOLA 600 lights for lighting

The lens is made by a photographer friend of mine in Japan, who calls his creation the Totomega lens. It’s a self-enclosed relay lens that fits on to a custom-built port, which houses a lens attached to an APS sensor camera…in my case, a Canon EOS 7D. The main lens is a 28-80mm Sigma lens, stacked on a 1.4x teleconverter.

When all is said and done, the resulting field of view underwater is somewhere in the 160-degree range.

Shooting with this type of lens is unlike anything I’ve tried before. Given that it’s my first experience with the lens and that there aren’t exactly a lot of people I can ask for advice, it took me a few dives to figure out how to use the Totomega.

Autofocus works like a charm, with one significant catch: The actual focus isn’t where the camera’s focus point locks on, meaning I have to adjust the camera position to take into account the differential in what the camera thinks is in focus and what actually is in focus.

The method I’ve developed to deal with this conundrum is to estimate the lens-to-subject distance for the point I want to be in focus, estimate a distance of approximately 1+ cm closer than my desired focus, AF lock at that distance, then reposition to my actual desired focus distance and shoot, keeping in mind that my desired focus distance usually means lens-to-critter-eye distance, not simply lens-to-critter distance.

Sound complicated?

It is.

I’m sure you can see why it took me a bit of trial-and-error over several dives (accompanied by considerable muttering under my breath) until I figured out a system that works. At this point, I can nail a significant proportion of the shots I try.

Two people on the Ambon Night Safari trip, Eric Cheng and Julian Cohen, had Inon lenses with them, so we inevitably traded notes and compared images. Here’s what we concluded (Eric, Julian: please correct me if I mis-stated or forgot something):

1. The Inon lens requires manual focus. The Totomega uses AF, but the AF position is not where it seems (or at least, I haven’t yet been able to get the actual AF to be where the AF point locks).

2. The Inon lens can focus right up to the lens surface. The Totomega can focus to about 1cm away from the lens surface.

3. The Inon lens can make really small things look big in the frame. Eric came up with the best description for the Totomega’s optical characteristics. In his words: “It makes big things look like small things made to look big.” I love that description.

4. When both lenses are at their sharpest, the Totomega lens is sharper than the Inon lens.

5. Both lenses are good for shooting video.

6. Both lenses exhibit significant chromatic aberration.

The bottom line is that the two lenses were created with a similar objective, but have different optical characteristics. Both are a challenge to shoot, but the unique perspective can make the effort worthwhile.

I’m sure there are still many things I’ll figure out in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll have to cross-check my experience with my friend in Japan after I get back home.

I have a suspicion that there may be some way to tweak my lens set up so that I can focus more closely. I hope that’s the case, so that I’ll be able to use this lens for smaller subjects in the future.

Given my limited experience with the lens so far, please consider my views on the Totomega an evolving (mis)understanding, rather than a definitive description.

Off to Ambon

Wed, Nov 3rd, 2010 | Equipment, Technique, Places, Adventures 1 Comment

Finally. My ~~junk~~ gear is sorted. My batteries (both literal and figurative) are charged. My head is (as) clear (as can be expected). And I’m headed to Ambon.

This will be my third visit to Ambon in as many years, but this trip will be anything but routine.

My hopeless mess before packing

It’ll be my first opportunity to stay at the new Maluku Divers resort, which is conveniently located right next to the area’s main muck diving sites. The new resort was designed and built by my friend Yos.

Also, this will be the second Night Safari I’ve run this year. The first was at Kasawari Lembeh Resort (also designed and built by Yos) in the Lembeh Strait back in late February. Here’s a video from the Lembeh Night Safari to give you an idea of some of the awesomely cool stuff we saw.

The basic idea behind the Night Safari concept is simple. Instead of diving during the day, we’ll spend several days diving only after dark, when lots of creepy crawlies come out. Life doesn’t get much better than that now, does it?

Given the new resort’s prime location next to the main muck sites, access to Ambon’s nightlife should be easy, and I’m hoping that we’ll see lots of neat things like mating behaviour, predation, and of course, a plethora of bizarre, butt-ugly critters.

I also have a lot of new equipment and crazy ideas to try out. For example, I have three SOLA 600 lights with me, which I’m planning to use both as focus lights and for video.

I’ve never attached a focus light to my housing before, mainly because underwater lights tend to be bulky, unwieldy and clumsy…not exactly conducive to sneaking up on wildlife. The SOLA lights are unbelievably compact and easy to use, so putting one on my housing is a no-brainer. The built-in red light should also be quite handy for approaching shy animals at night.

I’ve also downsized strobes and am only taking Inon S-2000s, six to be precise. Some people seem to think that you need strobes the size of VW beetles in order to take decent photos. I relied almost entirely on YS-50s and YS-30s back in the day (how many of you remember those?), so I’m hoping that my “small is beautiful” gamble will pay off, especially since I don’t anticipate doing much wide-angle work on this trip.

Finally, I have a bunch of knick-knacks I’ve knocked together to try out (with a lot of help from my friends at Aquaforum and Zillion), some of it geared toward trying to take better video footage underwater with my DSLR cameras, some of it just experimenting with light as I always do. I have no idea if any of the stuff will work, but there’s only one way to find out. Right?

My somewhat neater mess after packing

If you’re joining me in Ambon…see you soon! If you’re not, I’m hoping to have a decent enough net connection during my month-long stay to post photos every once in a while, so please check back for updates.

Incidentally, here’s a bit of video (shot by Chutinun Mora) of the recently described Maluku frogfish, aptly named Histiophryne psychedelica, which to date has only been seen in Ambon.